To hasten economic development in Kerala, the state government will study China's highly successful poverty alleviation and urban planning programmes, Kerala Revenue and Housing Minister K M Mani said in Beijing on Friday.

Impressed by the communist nation's economic and social progress, the minister, who is leading a 42-member delegation to China, said Kerala could learn from China's experience and progress on the road to development.

"In China, we intend to study the various factors, which contributed to the fast economic development of the country," Mani told PTI.

As part of this effort, the delegation met with Chinese officials and visited rural areas around Beijing. They also saw the major construction work undertaken by the Chinese government to host the 2008 Olympics.

Speaking at the International Workshop on Urban Development and Poverty Allevation he stressed the need for Indo-China cooperation, which he said was the need of the hour in view of globalisation and tough competition from the United States and the European Union.

The minister also higlighted the importance of strengthening a mutually-beneficial India-China trade ties. He said the cooperation would help promote the idea of an Asian Economic Community, similar to the EU.